Tank Thread

[Solinar]

  The way to the promised land seems to follow a multitude of paths.  And not all of them require you to have a number 1 pick, or else Edmonton would lead the league with cup wins.  High  talent, high quality top 5 picks definitely help, but you need to build a team as well.  Winnipeg, for example, has one top 2 pick playing right now.  And he gives them added 'depth'.  But before Hellebuyck improved, the team was a talented bunch waiting on goaltending, much like Dallas.  Vegas is a team of 2nd/3rd liners, plus a pair of top liners stolen from nashville/florida. and great goaltending from Fleury.  Tampa, some great top picks along with some amazingly talented pickups that were outside the box thinking and amazing goaltending from Vasilevski.  Washington, some savvy drafting outside of a couple of top picks, and amazing goaltending by Holtby, who won back his starters role from his backup.

  But I will tell you what they all have in common.  Great goaltending, and a mobile, skilled defense.  Some have size, some have 'weight', but the biggest thing is that even the role players are skilled, and that skill goes up and down the lineup.   Tampa and Winnipeg are the two teams with the most depth, Washington and Vegas are deep thru the lineup, but if injuries started to pile up...would be in trouble.

  The lesson I think that we can take away from all of this is, we need goaltending, and a revamp of our backend.  Forward wise, I'd say we are getting closer if some of our luck actually pans out.  It would be nice if we could find our own version of a Hedman, Carlson, Theodore, or Trouba.  

  At least with the current drafting and development group, I have faith that we can hit on at least 2 picks a year, and start building a player base that will allow us to have depth, and more importantly, trade depth to  address some of the deficiencies in our program, namely defense.  Much like Nashville trading from a position of strength, defense, I hope we get to the point where we can do the same, and I see that happening in 3-5 years time.  And at least we know that our GM has balls to gamble.  Here's hoping that he can keep up with the way the game is trending and not build us a club that won't be fast enough to keep up with the way the NHL is trending.  If we can build with an emphasis on speed and skill, I believe that our players will start to show less injuries, as the style of play will be more in favour of keeping them 'up', rather than putting them in positions to get smashed or destroyed by blocking shots.

[appleboy]

2 hours ago, oldnews said:

The Sedins put up 100 pts - while getting 74% offensive zone starts, and 3 minutes a game on the powerplay.

Those 74% ozone starts come from somewhere.  They were generated by the rest of the group.

 

The Sedins also gave up 3.3 and 3.2 goals against per 60 - the only other 'regular' higher than that was Goldobin, who played only 38 games and who's obvious weakness / area he needs to work on is his play without the puck.

 

Don't get me wrong - I love the Sedins - and they were still relatively effective offensively, but the assumption that those points they scored lead to a better record than otherwise would have been the case is a one-way perspective, that doesn't look at the context of their play, or the net result when you consider what they gave up relative to their production.  In the end it's entirely possible a different / younger forward could have managed that production with those kind of minutes - or at the very least, surrenedered less at the other end of the ice, breaking even.

 

This is also what needs to be considered when assuming the team will be worse next year in their absence.   When those ozone starts are distributed to other (talented young) players, who stand a pretty good chance of becoming better two way players than the Sedins - it's not a foregone conclusion that the team will be worse.  I'm not convinced that will be the case and won't be surprised at all if more speed, higher tempo, and perhaps more defensive aggressiveness actually make the team better next year.  They'll certainly miss the puck distributing mastery of the Sedins, but at the same time, there are a number of guys that have grown and learned watching them - who knows - the team could be as good or better than they were last year, and there's the additional factor of development of the other roster players to consider, as well as the potential that the lineup is healthier for a change.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. There is the possibility that someone would have stepped up. This year will not be a fair example because many of our prospects will be benefitting from the extra year of developing. Some of them weren't even ready last season.  I still think that they will be missed in ways that can't be seen on a stat sheet.

This year will be very interesting to watch. It is the part of rebuilds that I find the most entertaining. We will see who steps up to fill their shoes. There should be some ups and downs for sure.

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, appleboy said:

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. There is the possibility that someone would have stepped up. This year will not be a fair example because many of our prospects will be benefitting from the extra year of developing. Some of them weren't even ready last season.  I still think that they will be missed in ways that can't be seen on a stat sheet.

This year will be very interesting to watch. It is the part of rebuilds that I find the most entertaining. We will see who steps up to fill their shoes. There should be some ups and downs for sure.

I think we will be better overall without the twins this coming season.  I think they were a combined minus 40 or something.  

[EdgarM]

8 minutes ago, Alflives said:

I think we will be better overall without the twins this coming season.  I think they were a combined minus 40 or something.  

After watching the playoffs, the league really has gotten a lot stronger and faster and players now a days have the ability to be multi talented in that they can play good defense as well  as good offense and have the ability to play through adversity in any situation.

This is why I believe the team will be a little bit better off and the Coach can play a style more conducive to todays NHL. The team can play defense as one cohesive unit and all four lines can contribute to team defense as well as team offense.

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, EdgarM said:

After watching the playoffs, the league really has gotten a lot stronger and faster and players now a days have the ability to be multi talented in that they can play good defense as well  as good offense and have the ability to play through adversity in any situation.

This is why I believe the team will be a little bit better off and the Coach can play a style more conducive to todays NHL. The team can play defense as one cohesive unit and all four lines can contribute to team defense as well as team offense.

Totally agree.  I don't know if the Twins were quick enough any longer to play their east-west game.  Guys who play east-west now have to be super fast and quick.  

[EdgarM]

Just now, Alflives said:

Totally agree.  I don't know if the Twins were quick enough any longer to play their east-west game.  Guys who play east-west now have to be super fast and quick.  

Yeah it really showed even when they were on the power play. If they lost possession, they would come off and the next line would have to fight to get the puck back. Still love those guys but the NHL has changed into a much different game.

[CanadianRugby]

9 hours ago, oldnews said:

[CanuckleHorse]

7 hours ago, Alflives said:

I think we will be better overall without the twins this coming season.  I think they were a combined minus 40 or something.  

There was so many games where the twins got outplayed, out muscled and roughed up by the opposition it cost us the game because we would end up losing momentum.